


Stress Management

by DraconAsahara



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: AU, Bester - Freeform, Fake Science, Gen, Guns, Hayato is a nerd, I Don't Even Know, Italy, Ten Years Later, Tsuna gets a pet, Tsuna needs a break, Varia Wednesday is a thing now, Xanxus is Texas, acting like teenagers though, also the destruction of many things, and going bigger, box weapons, but it's khr so what should I do, but now like a two-shot?, everyone is in the mid 20s, his Guardians are morons, liger, lion, lions are just big cats, mafia, make real scientists cry, planed as a one-shot, slight - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2017-03-08
Packaged: 2018-09-30 10:10:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10160876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DraconAsahara/pseuds/DraconAsahara
Summary: In which Tsuna gets a pet and everyone else is more stressed than him for a change.Maybe he should have bothered informing his Guardians that Natsu is, in fact, not a wild animal. But then again, he was Reborn’s student and his sadism had to rub off at some level…





	

**Author's Note:**

> AN/  
> This is slightly AU because it plays in a world where Tsuna and his guardians didn’t get their box animals when they were in the future. It could be considered the original timeline maybe but meh.
> 
> Also, this is the first instalment of a series of KHR short-stories. Info on the other planed ones below.

\--------

**Stress management – Part 1**

**\-------**

_And, really, Tsuna should have gotten a pet sooner. It was a brilliant way to relieve some of his stress and put it on others instead._

\-----

Tsuna loved his family, he really did.

Over the last ten odd years he had come to truly appreciate all the different people that had come to inhabit his previously small world. It was no longer only Tsuna and his mother that made up his immediate family – Iemitsu was a story of its own- but rather a wide and diverse mix of people that had become more important to him than he would have ever thought possible.

When Reborn had come into his life, guns blazing, with fantastical stories of the mafia and ridiculous expectations, Tsuna had not exactly been keen on having the Arcobaleno in his life. But slowly, sneakily and with complete disregard of Tsuna’s opinion on the matter, Reborn had changed not only Tsuna’s world but Tsuna himself. Suddenly there were friends – guardians- who not only were by his side but would risk their lives for him and for who Tsuna would have died in return. There were those that were like the siblings he never had (older but not necessarily wiser like Dino or Ryohei, or younger like Fuuta, I-Pin and Lambo). Those that were friends (Hayato, Takeshi, Kyoko, Chrome, Enma and so many more…) and even a sizable portion of people that walked an unsteady line between friend or foe (Mukuro, Hibari, Xanxus…the list was frighteningly long now that he thought about it).  And then there was of course Reborn himself. Reborn who had gone from being a terrifying stranger death-set on making him a mafia boss to a trusted yet still terrifying confidant, death-set on making sure he was doing a good _being_ said mafia boss.

But, Tsuna reminded himself, in the end it didn’t matter who they were or what place in his family they had. What mattered was that all of them were _family_ and Tsuna was deeply grateful for having each and every one of them in his life.

This was something he made sure to repeatedly remind himself of because it was important, it was true and it was often _very_ necessary.

Especially in moments like this one.

Because sadly, as much as Tsuna loved the people in his life that didn’t exactly change the fact that most if not all of them were _idiots_. 

“VOOIIII what the fuck is that supposed to mean you piece of shit?!” a fist slammed on the table, the impact strong enough to shake some glasses.

“Eh? I just said that her hair looks similar to yours? Hahaha”

Confused laughter overshadowed some of the hissed curses of those whose drinks had just spilled on their clothes.

“You callin’ me _girly_?!” the last word was nearly screeched as the long haired man at the other end of the table got up on his feet.

“Hahaha no? But now that you mention it…”

Some of the table’s other occupants shifted uncomfortably, obviously having a good idea of what was to come but unable to get clear of the coming fight without leaving the table.

“I’ll FUCKING KILL YOU!!!!” this time Squalo’s scream was loud enough to cause the people next to him to flinch. Tsuna vaguely remembered Reborn telling him once that it was theoretically possible to burst another person’s eardrums by screaming loud enough. Tsuna had been a bit sceptical back then but the other man’s sheer volume made him reconsider the concept. Maybe that was secretly part of his Squalo's strategy? Break all the eardrums and destroy whatever sense of balance your opponents may have.

“Hey you stupid shark and the baseball idiot shut up and sit down you are interrupting dinner!”

A loud crash was heard as Gokudera barely avoided the shot aimed at his left shoulder and which instead tore through the wall behind him, leaving a smouldering hole.

 “Don’t you dare to fucking tell my people what to do, _trash_.”

“This is the Tenth’s place and as his right hand man I -!”

Another crash. This time the shot was reflected by Yamamoto’s sword. He had been forced to draw it in response to Squalo having pulled out his own, which he was now waving around menacingly while shouting further profanities. Somewhere further down the table Xanxus’s second bullet buried itself into Lambo’s dessert causing the young lightening guardian to tear up a little as pieces of green jelly went flying all over the place.

Tsuna just gave a dejected sigh as he watched things unfold from his place at the head of the table. It was times like these that he really questioned his life choices. Not that he had been given many choices in the first place.

Flicking away a small piece of jelly that had landed on one of his arms, he frowned at the nearly empty glass of wine in front of him. He could really go for something stronger right now, preferably a good whisky. But of course he wasn’t even allowed small mercies, as Reborn had apparently also made it his job to monitor his drinking habits during the last months, keeping him from anything stronger than the occasional glass of wine. Not that he really understood why - he rarely even drank, never mind consuming enough to get wasted. But then again, this was Reborn and the hitman wasn’t exactly known for giving explanations for his actions and he had always been a bit of a control freak.

Or he was just trying out new ways to mess with Tuna. Which to be honest was the most likely answer.

With tired eyes he watched as a chair flew over the table and hit Ryohei straight in the face.

For a moment he wondered which moron came up with _Varia Wednesday_ again before he remembered that it had been his idea. He was that moron.  Screw strengthening family bonds, how had he ever thought that bi-weekly diners with Xanxus and his ilk sounded like a good idea? Why couldn’t he have gone for Taco Tuesday instead? It was probably because of ideas like this that Reborn still called him Dame-Tsuna, which really begged the question of _why hadn’t he stopped him from doing this?_

Leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes for a moment Tsuna took a deep, deliberately ignoring the all out-brawl that had by now broken out and the sound of something shattering to his right.

_The Ming vase_ , his hyper-intuition unhelpfully informed him. _Worth around forty-thousand euros_ another part – the one responsible for constantly paying for repairs – added just to be an ass.

His eyes snapped open as Tsuna was forced to suddenly doge to the left in order to avoid getting hit in the face by a plate of tiramisu.  ‘ _This is just ridiculous’._

Still crouched to the side he let his eyes wander slightly upwards, meeting the highly amused gaze of his current advisor. The look on Reborn’s face – one eyebrow raised mockingly and a slight smirk on his lips – made it obvious that the man was inwardly laughing at him.

“I’ll be in my study” Tsuna chose to simply inform him, getting up from his chair – the back of which was currently tripping with tiramisu “ I still have to finish preparing for tomorrow’s meeting and there are some documents from R&D I want to go over before Friday.”

“Huh” Reborn gave him a considering gaze “Don’t you think you a good Boss should first get his stupid subordinates back under control?”

Tsuna glanced back over the table which had pretty much become a battle field. Food was being thrown, two of the chairs were already broken and it was impossible to figure out who was fighting whom as everyone just seemed to attack whoever was in reach. Really, the only thing that could have made this worse was if Mukuro and Hibari had been here as well but luckily both were out on missions. Thank God for small mercies.

“I think a good Boss should know when to leave stupid subordinates alone if he doesn’t want to die from a stress induced aneurism before the age of twenty-five.”

“Always so dramatic Dame-Tsuna” Reborn snorted but didn’t comment anymore as he turned his head back to further watch the chaos unfold.

At this Tsuna quickly turned around, making a b-line to the door before Reborn decided that he was growing bored of this after all. Tsuna knew that under normal circumstances Reborn not only expected him to keep his guardians in line whenever they decided to act like idiots, but would be royally pissed if Tsuna simply walked out on him. However, Tsuna also knew that sometimes he could get away with it. Because no matter how much Reborn pretended he was too much of an adult to indulge in their special type of insanity, the young Don knew that there was a part in the man that secretly enjoyed of the type of chaos they caused.

_‘Probably the same part that decided to make ‘Chaos’ his greeting and that is later going to shoot as punishment’_

So yeah, as long as Reborn was more amused than annoyed Tsuna could get away with ignoring the problem. Well, that and he really still had a lot of work to do.

\-----

Thursday came and went.

And if someone had bothered to ask Tsuna for his opinion he would have told them that it could have gone over a whole lot quicker.

The day had started quite normally. Tsuna got up around 7 am, showered, dressed and then went towards the dining room to eat his breakfast. Only he had ended up eating in his office in the end since apparently the dining room was still in shambles from yesterday, but even that was a relatively common occurrence.

However, things started derailing shortly afterwards. Tsuna had just gotten a new load of paperwork from Hayato when his phone pinged to signal he had gotten a message.

_Unknown Number: U up?_

Tsuna just stared at the screen for a few seconds before deciding not to grace this message with a response, putting the phone back in his pocket and continuing his work instead. Five minutes later the phone chimed again.

_Unknown Number: U up?_

_Unknown Number: What u doin r8 now?_

With an annoyed sigh Tsuna put his phone back down yet again, this time purposefully shutting it into the drawer of his table so he wouldn’t have to hear it. Maybe if he just ignored it the sender would get bored and leave him alone.

As it turns out however this didn’t seem to be the case and the brunet was quickly forced to realize that his table was far from soundproof as the incessant chiming of his phone kept him from concentrating on anything for the next few minutes.

_Unknown Number: R u alone? I’m alone_

_Unknown Number: It’s cold here ;)_

_Unknown Number: Wished I had company_

_Unknown Number: I’m already getting warmer tho_

_Unknown Number: Gettin all hot and bothered lol_

_Unknown Number: What u doin?_

_Unknown Number: U up?_

Already regretting it, Tsuna finally texted back.

_Tsuna: Mukuro if that’s you just tell me what you want_

There was a beat of silence before another text arrived.

_Unknown Number: Kufufufufu_

_Unknown Number: You are no fun Vongola_

_Tsuna: I don’t have time for this Mukuro, tell me what you want or leave me alone_

_Unknown Number: It’s really getting a bit warm here_

_Unknown Number: Might need help_

_Tsuna: what_

_Unknown Number: So I might be stuck underground in this building_

_Unknown Number: which is on fire somehow?_

_Tsuna: what did you do_

_Unknown Number: I didn’t do anything. So mean of you to assume it’s my fault_

_Unknown Number: I would however appreciate if you could send someone soon_

_Tsuna: Where are you? How are you even stuck? Why didn’t you call Chrome?_

_Unknown Number: Lost my phone and had to use someone else’s. Urs is only number I remembered. Tell her I’m underground in a sealed room at the end of westward corridor of la Scala. She’ll know the room, the one with the heads_

Really not wanting to ask for clarification on the last part, Tsuna simply messaged the information to Chrome’s cell-phone. Not even ten seconds later a small tick appeared below it, confirming that the message had been read. So far so good.

_Tsuna: She’s on her way_

_Tsuna: but are you telling me you set la Scala on fire?_

_Tsuna: will I have to pay for that_

_Tsuna: Mukuro answer me_

_\---_

Mukuro did not answer.

And while this certainly didn’t bode well for Tsuna’s purse it at east allowed him concentrate on his work for the rest of the morning.

It was a few hours later that Hayato came back to inform him that it was time for them to leave as they had a meeting with some of their territory’s minor mafia families to get to. Despite small mishaps – one of the new participants hadn’t recognized the young Vongola Don for who he was and treated him like a page-boy which in turn had Hayato turning an impressive shade of purple -  the meeting itself went over as well as could be expected. Especially after his storm had kind of blown up on the group and they had been cowed into agreeing with whatever terms the young Vongola heir came up with.

By the end of the day however things had gone further downhill.

First, Lambo had come running into his room in tears because apparently Reborn had been bullying him again. The boy hadn’t stopped bawling for a good ten minutes, after which Reborn himself had come in and demanded that Lambo be sent to some far away island for survival training because he was giving him a headache. Tsuna of course told the hitman in not unclear terms just what he thought of that demand - which is to say not much - which resulted in a rather nasty argument, at the end of which Lambo was still bawling and Tsuna’s chair had a few more bullet holes.

Later that day, Hayato had come in to inform him that both Ryohei and Takeshi had somehow broken some of their training equipment again. Then Dino called to tell him that he was planning to visit the compound next week, which meant special preparations had to be made. And somewhere in between Tsuna had also finally received the estimate for the repairs in the diner room – which _wow_ how was Vongola not bankrupt yet? – Together with a short memo by Viper reminding him that the Varia had been guests and therefore not responsible to pitch in on the costs.

Needless to say that once Thursday night finally rolled around Tsuna was pretty much done with the world and trying to ignore the pulsing headache that had become a constant presence in his life.

\----

Blinking his eyes open owlishly, Tsuna felt the urge to bury his head right back into his pillow at the sight of light streaming in through his window. The clock next to his bed informed him that he had to get up in 5 minutes and Tsuna couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to his Thursday night.

As he often did, Tsuna just spend his last few minutes of calm staring at the clock, watching the seconds tick by and trying to mentally prepare himself for the day ahead. Part of him wondered what would happen if he didn’t get up and just stayed in bed for a chance but he didn’t need his hyper-intuition to know that he wouldn’t like the answer to this. It would probably end with Reborn shooting at him. Or Gokudera smoking up a storm as he worried himself half to death. Likely both.

In the end it just wasn’t worth it.

By the time he got to breakfast, Gokudera and Reborn were already there.

This time he found himself eating in the dining room again. As always the repair team had done an excellent job and nothing in the room even hinted at the fact that it had been in shambles a day ago. The only thing that had not been properly replaced was the Ming-vase, something that Tsuna silently approved. His guardians and other volatile people frequented this place far too often to make keeping priceless artefacts in here a sensible option after all. Coming to think of it maybe he should ask Haru to have all of the more expensive decorations removed or replaced by cheaper versions, at least in those places that were unlikely to survive a full year without having major repairs done.

Hana would probably approve as well. She was one of the few people that seemed to share his interest in not having the Family go bankrupt.

“Good morning Tenth!” Gokudera greeted him with his usual enthusiasm.

“Good morning Hayato, Reborn.”

“You’re late Dame-Tsuna” Reborn informed him as he sat down in his usual spot.

“Sorry” the brunette half-heartedly apologized. Since no guns had been drawn he was pretty sure Reborn was just being difficult on principle and it was only a minute past eight or so.

“Better not happen again or I’ll feel like having to schedule some extra training for you” the hitman warned as if him being punctual would actually stop that sadist.

“Of course not” Tsuna lied as if it mattered.

Reborn in turn pretended to believe him.

As always the first coffee of the day did wonders to lift Tsuna’s mood. He instantly felt a lot more awake and even the budding headache that seems to have made its permanent home behind his temples had disappeared for now. Tsuna had no idea how he had ever managed to survive without the magical brew in the past.

Caffeine addiction was a horrible thing.

“I finished the schedule for next week” Gokudera informed him, shoving a printout next to his plate to look at while he rattled of the most important points. Tsuna knew the print itself was technically unnecessary since Tsuna’s received his schedule on his phone and Hayato likely had it memorized, but he also knew his right hand man liked working with visuals of all kind. He even once put together a small video presentation as to why Vongola should acquire Area 51. Tsuna had been quite impressed but mostly so by Gokudera’s ability to come up with bullshit reasons that didn’t openly include conspiracy theories or aliens. It had still been rather obvious of course, but maybe he could arrange something for Hayato’s birthday?

“…and also told the pilot to stand by for Friday evening, so we can arrive early on Saturday.”

_‘Huh?’_ Tsuna broke free from his internal musing to concentrate on the conversation at the mention of a flight. _‘We’re leaving Italy?’_

“Of course Hibari still hasn’t responded but Kusakabe said he was informed.”

_‘Ah. It’s that time of the year again’._ Time to inspect the Japanese base that is. Not that Tsuna would ever call it that out loud, after all this was Hibari’s base and Hibari didn’t need inspecting. In fact, Hibari was usually the one doing the inspecting. And considering that he run Foundation pretty much like an extended version of his Disciplinary Committee it was unlikely that any malpractice would be tolerated in the organization. So really, no need for an official inspection.

Especially not when Tsuna was reasonable sure that his cloud would take such a thing as a personal insult and react in a volatile manner. Or at least more volatile than usual.

“How about the mission reports for last month? Did Kyoya hand those in yet?”

The long-suffering look on Gokudera’s face told him that no he didn’t.

“My apologies! I _told_ him he is overdue but he just ignores whatever I say!” he exclaimed in exasperation before his face hardened in determination “But I promise I’ll make sure you have them by next week! I won’t sleep or eat until I have them!”

Even if Gokudera had mellowed throughout the years, he still took his job as Tsuna’s right hand man a bit more serious than what was strictly necessary. “Uhm, that seems a tad bit extreme and I wouldn’t want you to get sick, Hayato. It’s fine I can just remind him during the visit” Tsuna tried to backtrack a little.

Trying to shift the conversation to another direction he continued “How about today? At what time are Giannini and Spanner expecting us?”

Gokudera’s eyes lit back up again “They are expecting us right after breakfast, so once we finish here we can head straight over to the compound:”

Tsuna could practically feel the other man brimming with suppressed excitement at the prospect of inspecting the research facilities. Unsurprisingly, it was one of his storm’s favourite duties as it gave him not only a chance to make actual use of his vast technological knowledge, but to regularly compete in  what Tsuna could only describe as a geek-off with those working in R&D.  It wasn’t unusual for those discussions to quickly derail from their original topic and end up as endless debates. Debates that could range anywhere from what fuel was better suited for short-range rockets to whether or not the Mayan pyramids were built by aliens.

Not that Tsuna minded.

In fact, he rather liked both the inspection and the long discussions.

Even if they lasted for hours.

Especially if they lasted for hours.

Because any time spent hanging around R&D was time not spent in his office, suffering his way though his paperwork.  

_‘Win, win’_ Tsuna liked to think of it _‘Hayato gets to have fun and I get to relax. Now if only Reborn would stop giving me the evil eye about this…’_

\------

R&D had always been a sizeable department to begin with but it had only gotten bigger during Tsunayoshi’s reign of the Vongola.

This could partially be attributed to the fact in his effort to make the Vongola more legitimate, Tsuna had heavily invested in extending the role their family played in the world of technology. Adding to that the fact that his right hand man understood enough of the topic to give him proper advice, and Vongola’s previous research output nearly doubled to 180% in just the last few years.

There were of course several branches and sub-branches to a department of this size. Most of them were located in Italy and other European countries but a few were oversees, as was the case with Foundation’s private research facilities.

Naturally Tsuna didn’t have the time to inspect every single department around the world. Instead he visited the R&D central unit, which while not the largest in size or personnel, was definitely the most important sub-division. Not only was the central unit responsible for co-ordinated and monitored all of Vongola’s ongoing projects, but it was also were all of the flame-related research was being conducted. For obvious reasons this meant that the location and on-goings of the central unit were not only considered top-secret but that it afforded a high level of protection from the Family to keep it safe.

It was due to these requirements that its facilities had often changed location in the past, usually due to fear of discovery by others. This had eventually stopped when Vongola the Eighth decided that there simply was no location that was completely safe from outsiders. Instead of focusing solely on secrecy she had decided to protect it by using Vongola’s position as the leading mafia clan instead. She had, rather blatantly even, ordered the construction of highly secured underground facilities at the far end of the estate, just behind the training area.  At this point many of the other Families already suspected the true purpose of these rooms, but just like Daniela had expected the sheer vicinity to Vongola’s headquarters kept them from snooping too much. Nobody wanted to risk the wrath of Vongola’s whole higher echelon that simply stepping foot on their grounds would bring with it.

Now, two generations later, the central unit was still located in the same spot, its entrance just a five minute walk away from the main building. Its existence was still treated as somewhat of an open secret in the mafia world, despite murmured conspiracy theories about how the facility was just a giant decoy and Vongola had long since re-located the department. Vongola itself had actively encouraged such rumours but was eventually uncaring about by them.

When Tsuna and Hayato entered said facility two checkpoints and one armoured elevator ride later, Tsuna could honestly say that the Eighth’s plan had been working out just fine so far. Aside from cleared Family members nobody had ever managed to entered the halls that basically held the heart of Vongola’s knowledge.

The department itself was a good thirty meters underground and re-enforced in ways that could protect it not only from external missiles but also explosions on the inside. The latter having proven itself to be the greater threat to its existence over the last few decades.  The elevator directly transported visitors into the commando room– a big round room with monitors fixed to the walls that gave Tsuna the surreal feeling of being on a spacecraft rather than underground. Two corridors branched off from each side of the room, leading to different labs and offices only to eventually re-connect to form a big circle.

As always Giannini already awaited the duo, gliding towards them in his floating chair and being followed by Spanner.

“Vongola Decimo, Signore Gokudera” the man nodded his head at them while Spanner just raised a hand in greeting “I hope you are well. If you would please follow me I will give you the usual tour.”

Being effective as always the small man didn’t even wait for their response, already floating away into the leftwards corridor while starting to rattle of facts about their current projects. Tsuna absentmindedly wondered what would happen if they didn’t follow him. Would he even notice? Or just continue in his explanations despite the lack of an audience?

Well, one way or another he wasn’t going to find out since Gokudera had already started to trail after the man, listening to his explanations with an intent expression on his face.

Tsuna sighed and rolled his shoulders to force them to relax. He had only just finished breakfast but he already felt drained again. At least he didn’t have to do the thinking this time around since his lack of scientific expertise made him more of Gokudera’s add-on rather than the other way around.

“Looking tired” a voice commented from his right.

Glancing to the side, Tsuna saw Spanner standing there, hands in his overall and the usual lollipop in his mouth.

“Being boss is a tiring job” Tsuna answered with a faint smile. “Especially in the mafia.”

Spanner snorted.  “I can imagine. Especially with those Guardians of yours. From what I heard rarely a week passes without them destroying one thing or another. Rumour has it the dining room was in shambles two days ago?”

Tsuna’s smile turned slightly pained as he was forced to remember the newest batch of destruction brought on by his family.

“Well…I guess rumour holds some truth” he admitted, choosing not to explain that he was lucky to go so much as a day without a new damage report, never mind a full week.

Spanner just stared at him for a few more moments before glancing towards the direction Giannini and Gokudera had walked a minute ago.  His face was contemplative for a moment before he shrugged his shoulders, seemingly having come to some internal conclusion.

“If you want to relax for a bit, there is something I could show you. Giannini kind of wanted to keep it under wraps for now but…” he trailed off as if to say he didn’t really care about what Giannini wanted. Tsuna’s hyper intuition however clued him in that the blond felt not so much uncaringness but rather a small sense of satisfaction at directly going against his superior’s orders.

Sometimes the relationship between Spanner and Giannini weirdly reminded Tsuna of whatever rivalry going on between Takeshi and Gokudera, openly shown disrespect sprinkled with passive aggressiveness. He should really know better than to participate in this.

“That sounds nice” Tsuna said, trying to hide how much he really wanted a break “but I think Giannini and Hayato are already wondering where I am. It wouldn’t do for me to miss all of the explanations after all.”

Spanner shot him a sceptical look, obviously not buying it “Sure. If you want to listen to another two hour long debate about how magnetic fields can be used to operate plasma-induced shields, go ahead.”

Tsuna cringed inwardly at remembering that particular discussion. Before it he hadn’t even been aware that there were more than three elemental states, never mind being able to follow the more technical details of the debate.

Shooting another look at the corridor to his left he quickly relented. “Yeah okay show me whatever secret relaxation technique you have.”

“Sure thing, Boss, just follow me!” With a small salute, Spanner quickly spun around and walked towards the corridor to the right and towards where Tsuna knew Giannini’s and Spanner’s personal labs to be located. To his surprise however, they bypassed both doors and entered into one of the smaller break rooms instead.

Unlike the white neon-lights in the labs, this room’s laps were yellow and basked the area in a considerable dimmer glow.  Even though the door hadn’t been locked, the windows to the corridor had been hanged with curtains, keeping people from looking out or in. Now wondering what type of invention would be kept in a breakroom rather than a lab Tsuna watched with growing curiosity as Spanner made its way over to a big metal box at the far end of the room.

“We are keeping it here for now because the bright lights and people stress it out too much” Spanner explained as he kneeled before the box and looked through a small glass window “It’s still pretty young.”

Now more confused than ever – because why was he talking as if the something was alive? -  Tsuna came over to kneel besides the mechanic to have a look at what was inside the box.

To his surprise he found himself staring at what looked like a curled up lion cub that was slumbering peacefully.

“What-” was all Tsuna could say before Spanner typed in a combination on the machine’s thumb-pad and the glass slid to the side. A thin, orange mist emanated from the confinement and Tsuna could feel the faint prickle of sky-flames on his skin.

“This“ Spanner stated gravely as the small lion started to stir “ is a box animal. We need to regularly feed it flames in order for it to grow properly”

That…explained absolutely nothing.

What was a box animal? Dis they call it that just because they kept it in a box? And why did R&D have a lion in the first place?

Seemingly sensing the young Don’s confusion, Spanner continued his explanation. “Box animals are not real animals, they are just based on their appearance” he said as he reached and tried to make a grab for it. The cub, now fully awake gave a startled yipp and retreated further into the confines of his prison.  “They are actually sentient weapon’s able to use flames. They are called box animals because they are able to be stored in tiny boxes that allow their owner to easily carry them around”

_‘Sounds like a Pokémon’_ a traitorously childish part of Tsuna’s brain commented awe.

Instead he asked “That is possible? Did Giannini come up with this? Why did he not want me to know about it?”

“Eh, I guess he first wants to make sure it really works” Spanner said “This is the first prototype we ever made after all. It could all end in a giant failure. And no, Giannini did not technically come up with it. It’s an old idea and others have been working on it for ages. No one really knows who came up with the final concepts since it’s all a bit convoluted but Giannini wanted to try it out anyway.”

The blond man had by now given up on getting the lion in his hands as it pressed itself into the furthest corner and snapped at his hands when they came too near.

‘ _It’s scared’_ Tsuna realized as he stared at the shivering form of the creature that weirdly reminded him of himself.

“It looks just like a real lion” he commented as he stuck his own hand into the box. Instead of moving to grab the cub however he simply held it still, waiting for it to come closer out of its own volition. Trying to further alleviate the animal’s fear he also reached for his flames, using its harmonizing factor to make himself appear as harmless as possible while calming the tiny blob of fur down at the same time. It appeared to work, as, after a few seconds of holding still, the cub slowly started to sneak towards him. The stride was wobbly but its amber eyes were clearly fixated on the ring on his finger, which was now glowing in a soft orange hue.

“And so tiny!” the young man could barely keep himself from giggling as the lion finally made it to his hand, trying to gnaw on his ring finger. It was only about the size of an average house-cat and its fur was slightly spotted.

“It’s practically still an infant, only a month old or so.  It will eventually grow up just like any normal lion.”

“Wait, was it built or born?” Tsuna asked, confused as to why a weapon, even one based on an animal form, would have an infant state at all.

“Uhm, both?” Spanner tried to explain “I mean, it wasn’t born by a lion, but it technically grows like one? We basically bred it in an incubator.”

“But it’s biologically a lion?”

“Not quite. Like I said, its physical form is based on one and it certainly has some of its behavioural characteristics, but its genetic makeup has been heavily modified. In some ways it is closer to a sentient flame than a lion” Spanner actually managed to look excited at this. “It is more intelligent too! Especially since we were able to program relevant parts of its body similar to how one would program a computer. Due to changes made to its speech centre we are even about 90% certain that it will be able to understand complex language!”

Tsuna didn’t really know what to say in response. Of course he still had a load of questions, but right now he really didn’t want to think about all of the technical or ethical implications that the tiny lion carried with it. He was however pretty sure both were outrageous in their own right.

“So, how much longer will it have to stay in there?” he chose to ask instead “Does it spend the whole day in that thing?”

Spanner shrugged. “Pretty much. We try to let it out to play from time to time, but it needs sky flames regularly and this is the only way we can provide them. It will likely take another two months or so for it to be old enough to go without the external input and be able to reside in its box.”

Tsuna watched as the tiny ball of fur swatted at one of his hands, giving a small mewl.

“But does it have to be stuck in there? Can’t it just get the flames from another person instead?”

“Uh, in theory yes” the blond mechanic made a face, his lollipop switching from the left to the right side of his mouth. “But… while I know the higher ups are practically riddled with skies, you do realize that they aren’t actually all that common? We definitely don’t have random sky elements running around the department. That’s why we have flames sealed up for testing after all.”

The lion cub had stopped attacking Tsuna’s hands by now and was starting to nod of in his arms.

“What about me though?” he looked up and directly into Spanner’s eyes “I am a random sky running through your department.”

Spanner stared at him in surprise. “You?”

Tsuna stared back in determination “Yes, me. Can’t I take care of the lion instead?”

“Well” Spanner began, his eyes flitting to the door for a moment “You’d have to keep it with you most of the day so it can absorb enough flames. And we’d have to clear things with Giannini, especially since he wanted to keep this under wraps for now. But, yeah I guess? You _are_ the boss after all.”

Tsuna gave a slight smile at that, holding the cub closer to him.

Sometimes it was nice to be the Boss.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Next chapter is already halfway done but I had to break it up because it got too long. Next: Everyone meet Natsu, Tsuna’s new “cat”!
> 
> If you are confused, Natsu doesn’t have a flaming mane or metal augmentations yet. Those come later. 
> 
> Also, this is one of a few planned KHR ramble fictions set in the same universe. If you want to you can vote which one you want to see next because I can't decide :)  
> Prompts:  
> 1\. There was a reason Tsuna wasn't allowed to drink anymore and everyone but him knew it.  
> 2\. Due to circumstances Tsuna and Hayato spend some time in an American prison. Sadly, prison culture doesn’t quite agree with them. Or rather, they disagree with prison culture.  
> 3\. If there was one thing that could make the Tenth generation Guardians actively avoid their sky it was probably accounting day.  
> 4\. Class reunion in Namimori middle went over as well as could have been expected. Which is to say not very well at all. Tsuna just prayed he have to pay for anything by the end of this.


End file.
